http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Chinese researchers said Monday they have discovered an HIV-blocking agent that could be developed into a gel to limit the sexual transmission of AIDS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-chinese-eye-anti-aids-gel.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:15:44 EST news254391335 A new study that tracked what Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (ADRD) costs Medicare during three distinct stages of patient care suggests that the government insurer could realize substantial savings through efforts to reduce the hospitalizations that occur before patients became permanent nursing home residents. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-pre-nursing-home-hospitalization-dementia-patients.html Health Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:37:17 EST news253273017 (HealthDay) -- Researchers have identified three previously unreported instances of severe opioid-induced toxicity in children following adenotonsillectomy for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, according to a case report published online April 9 in Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-highlights-child-deaths-post-surgery-codeine.html Sleep apnea Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:50:02 EST news253195977 (HealthDay) -- Primary venous thromboembolism prophylaxis with apixaban, an oral direct Factor Xa inhibitor, in ambulatory cancer patients undergoing first- or second-line chemotherapy for advanced or metastatic cancer, is safe and well tolerated, according to a phase II study published online March 12 in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-prophylaxis-apixaban-feasible-cancer-patients.html Cancer Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:09:53 EST news252245375 Watching Alzheimer's disease steal away the memory, talents and very selves of its victims is hard enough for the people who love them. But a new pill formulated by a respected pharmaceutical company and approved by the Food and Drug Administration will do little to help most patients and bring misery to some, say two medical investigators. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-alzheimer-drug-sharply-criticized-medical.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Fri, 23 Mar 2012 10:50:01 EST news251717731 (HealthDay) -- Coffee and caffeine are not associated with psoriasis incidence after adjustment for smoking, according to a research letter published in the March issue of the Archives of Dermatology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-coffee-caffeine-linked-psoriasis-women.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 21 Mar 2012 16:12:48 EST news251565118 Three South Korean pharmaceutical firms will soon be allowed to produce generic versions of the anti-impotence drug Viagra despite a row over patents, officials said Wednesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-korea-viagra.html Medications Wed, 14 Mar 2012 05:00:21 EST news250920015 India's largest biotechnology firm, Biocon, and US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said Tuesday they would scrap a joint plan to sell insulin products, sending Biocon's shares plunging. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-pfizer-india-biocon-scrap-insulin.html Medications Tue, 13 Mar 2012 04:28:52 EST news250831717 (AP) -- A panel of arthritis experts has recommended that the federal government allow continued testing of an experimental class of pain drugs for arthritis, despite links to bone decay and joint failure http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-fda-panel-pain-drugs.html Medications Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:07:43 EST news250790831 (HealthDay) -- A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Monday will weigh the wisdom of allowing new clinical trials of a class of powerful painkillers for osteoarthritis. The drugs may have worked so well for some patients that those patients wound up needing knee replacement surgery because they overworked their already damaged joints. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-fda-panel-chance-class-painkillers.html Medications Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:40:01 EST news250778922 (HealthDay) -- A sensitive and specific gene-based classifier can be used to identify BRAF mutant colon cancer tumors and a subpopulation of BRAF wild-type tumors with poor prognosis, according to a study published March 5 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-gene-based-poor-prognosis-colon-cancers.html Cancer Fri, 09 Mar 2012 05:30:01 EST news250490806 Some of the world's largest drugmakers will face an uphill battle next week in their bid to revive a class of experimental arthritis drugs that have been sidelined by safety concerns for nearly two years. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-fda-links-once-promising-pain-drugs.html Medications Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:40:01 EST news250426623 (HealthDay) -- Smoking is an independent risk factor for psoriasis, with particularly strong associations for heavy smokers and those who have smoked for many years, according to research published in the March 1 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-independent-factor-psoriasis.html Inflammatory disorders Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:40:01 EST news250350360 (AP) -- Efforts by India and the European Union to strengthen trade are threatening India's ability to deliver lifesaving medicines to the world's poorest, analysts say as the two sides push through protracted negotiations on a free-trade pact. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-india-global-pharmacy-role-threatened.html Medications Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:30:02 EST news248074058 (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new Pfizer drug for patients with advanced kidney cancer that has spread to other parts of the body despite treatment with at least one previous drug. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-fda-pfizer-drug-advanced-kidney.html Medications Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:59:15 EST news246891541 Sales of cholesterol blockbuster Lipitor plunged by half barely a week after the world's top-selling drug got its first U.S. generic competition, new data show. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-rivals-lipitor-sales-halved.html Medications Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:00:02 EST news243578929 (AP) -- A panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted Wednesday that the benefits of a Pfizer kidney cancer drug outweigh its risks, according to a company spokeswoman. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-fda-panel-pfizer-drug-kidney.html Medications Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:18:25 EST news242486289 Indian pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy won US regulatory approval to make the first generic version of cholesterol lowering drug Lipitor, a Pfizer product whose patent expired Wednesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-india-ranbaxy-lipitor.html Medications Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:11:07 EST news241927215 Pfizer's patent on the best-selling drug of all-time, the cholesterol-lowering medication Lipitor, expired on Wednesday, opening the path to generic competitors for America's most popular medication. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-pfizer-blockbuster-drug-lipitor.html Medications Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:31:46 EST news241882296 (AP) -- Lipitor is so valuable that its maker, Pfizer Inc., is practically paying people to keep taking the blockbuster cholesterol medicine after generic competition hits the U.S. market this week. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-pfizer-maneuvers-lipitor.html Medications Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:03:24 EST news241804972 (AP) -- Federal health officials said Monday that Pfizer's anti-smoking drug Chantix did not increase psychiatric problems like depression and suicidal thoughts in two studies, though the findings are not definitive. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-fda-chantix-psych-problems.html Medications Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:55:23 EST news238686905 (AP) -- A pill developed in Bulgaria during the Soviet era shows promise for helping millions of smokers cheaply and safely kick the habit, the first big study of it shows. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-soviet-era-pill-bulgaria-smokers.html Health Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:43:12 EST news236454184 In a new study published in Nature Genetics researchers say that women who possess a fault in a gene named RAD51D have a greater risk of developing ovarian cancer than women who do not have this fault and tests are expected to be available within the next few years for those at highest risk, according to Cancer Research UK. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-faulty-gene-ovarian-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 09 Aug 2011 06:00:01 EST news232073760 Yale School of Medicine researchers have found that a clinical trial of the epilepsy drug gabapentin may have been a "seeding trial" used by a pharmaceutical company to promote the drug and increase prescriptions, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-clinical-epilepsy-drug-purely.html Medications Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:00:27 EST news228392997 An antibody packaged with a potent chemotherapy drug to selectively destroy acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells eradicated or greatly reduced the disease for 61 percent of 46 patients in a phase II study. It will be presented at the 47th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago June 3-7. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-antibody-guided-drug-acute-lymphoblastic-leukemia.html Cancer Mon, 23 May 2011 16:02:14 EST news225385321 The aldosterone antagonist eplerenone (Inspra, Pfizer) significantly reduced the development of new onset atrial fibrillation and flutter (AFF) in patients with class 2 heart failure, concludes a sub-analysis of the EMPHASIS-HF trial, presented at the Heart Failure Congress 2011, organized by the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). The analysis, presented in Late Breaking Session 1, furthermore showed that the beneficial effects of eplerenone in reducing major CV events were similar in patients with and without AFF at the start of the study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-emphasis-hf-epleronone-atrial-fibrillation.html Cardiology Sun, 22 May 2011 12:59:21 EST news225287940